a note for APHI 112

Hi everyone - The slidshow I wasnted to show you in class is up.

Aids Ahiv1

View more presentations from C.

Look on the top right-harnd corner of this page, you will see a title called: "PAGES". Underneath you will a subtitle called "POWERPOINT SLIDES shown in class". Click on that link and it will take you to a new page where there are a bunch of different slideshows related to the material we have covered in class. Also take time to scroll through the various posts in this blog, you will find interesting articles and information that is also related to the content covered in class. I hope you will find this helpful and please leave a comment if you can - so that we can get more support for this blog.

Here is an interesting article on discrimination against women in Religion

This article follows along the same lines of the issues we dealt with in class.

Religious discrimination against women
© G.M. Woerlee


The texts of the Torah, Bible and Koran preach discrimination against women, degradation and subjugation of women, and even violence against women! In other words, the texts of these "holy books" systematically ensure a second-class status for one half of the world population - women! And all these things are forced upon us by a "loving God", and preached by the prophets of this very same "loving God".

Many people might say that sanctified subjugation of women, discrimination against women, and violence against women are things of the past. They are wrong! These things are alive and well today, and are becoming ever more common with the current increasing worldwide tendency towards religious fundamentalism based upon literal interpretations of the Bible and the Koran. So let us examine how the texts of these loathsome books, and the evil religions derived from them, give rise to institutionalized and sanctified discrimination against women (this article is a supplement to the extensive chapter on "Holy Misogyny" in The Unholy Legacy of Abraham).

Jews, Christians, and Muslims all berate women for causing humanity to be driven out of paradise. As a result of the original sin of the first woman, people lost the gift of immortality, had to work hard to find food, and were no longer blessed by a direct interaction with God (Torah and Bible, Genesis, chapter 3). The fault of this first and original sin rests heavily upon the shoulders of womankind, justifying all manner of religion-justified nastiness directed against them. Indeed, many passages in the Torah and the Bible teach us that women are not only inferior, but also must obey men, because God tells us that men are their masters.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (Bible, Genesis 3:16)

And if anyone thinks this ruling was abrogated by Jesus or his disciples, then think again. For we read that the holy Saint Paul himself said:

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. (Bible, Ephesians 5:22-24)

And not to forget what Saint Peter also said about the necessity for women to submit to thier husbands:

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. (Bible, 1 Peter 3:1-6)

This passage has profound consequences when interpreted very literally. For example, this passage could be interpreted to mean that if you are a woman married to a psychopathic, violent husband, you must submit to him, obey his every whim, allow him to abuse and beat you regularly, at the same time as you try to change his ways by means of the example of your long-suffering obedience, purity, and piety. Your reward for all this will be eternal life in heaven - shame about your life on earth. However it's probably all part of God's inscrutable, and undoubtedly wonderful plan for women. This brings us to another fascinating example of wondrous discrimination against women in the Bible - the stoning of girls who are not virgins on their wedding night …

The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver [a] and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you. (Bible, Deuteronomy 22:16-21)

Oh…? And what about men who are not virgins on their wedding night? Why are only women stoned for not being virgins on their wedding night, and not men? Nowhere in the Bible does God talk of punishing men for not being virgins on their wedding night - God only tells us in these books that women must be punished. This is but one extreme example of the many, many instances of discrimination against women in the Bible.

And so it is that while women are considered as friendly little creatures, useful to have about the house for fun, sex, childbearing, cooking, and cleaning - they are also loathsome little creatures who try dragging men, (who are by implication holy and pure by nature), into the filthy pit of hell with them.

Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. (Bible, Proverbs 7:26-27)

Women are considered by this verse as sinful, and many other verses in the Bible also tell us that women are also unclean, such as this example:

Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. (Bible, Job 14:1-4)

In other words, humans are doomed to die because they are born out of unclean women! Original sin, inherent sinfulness, and uncleanliness are all used as justification for the atrocities perpetrated upon women throughout history. All manner of Christian sects during the last 2000 years have found all manner of Bible verses justifying discrimination against women, violence against women, and even religiously sanctioned rape of captive women.

In the book of Deuteronomy in the enlightened Christian Bible, as well as in the old Jewish Torah, God gave Moses clear instructions as to when the followers of Judaism and Christianity could rape captive women after slaughtering their families …

When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. (Bible, Deuteronomy 21:10-14)

As if this were not enough, the God of the Jews and the Christians also sanctions killing infants and ripping open pregnant women during wars.

Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Bible, Hosea 13:16)

Horrible, horrible. And to think that these are the everlasting laws of a "loving" and "merciful" God, meant to be applied for all eternity! Religions with such instructions are truly evil religions! Islam is no better. Even though many followers of Islam vehemently deny it exists, religious discrimination against women in Islam is embedded in the very structure of Islam, and is even plainly stated in various verses in the Koran. For example, the Koran tells the blessed followers of Islam that women are inferior to men, and require punishment for even suspected disobedience ...

Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. (Koran 4:34)

This verse in the Koran has done more than any other to justify discrimination against women in Islam, to justify their inferior position, as well as actually encouraging violence against women. Many followers of Islam say that such verses should not be interpreted literally. Personally I find this a very strange attitude. After all, many followers of Islam state that the Koran is a perfectly exact and literal transcription of the revelations of God to his last and best prophet Mohammed. So if these are the exact instructions of God, then they should be obeyed by the good followers of Islam. Accordingly, discrimination against women in Islam is ordained by God, and to deviate from divine laws requiring disobedient women to be beaten is to commit heresy. Mohammed himself knew as no other how to treat women in the way God ordained. He was a compassionate man who told his followers to treat their women "kindly".

Narrated Abdullah bin Zam'a: The Prophet said, "None of you should flog his wife as he flogs a slave and then have sexual intercourse with her in the last part of the day." (Sunnah of Bukhari 62:132)

This is true evidence of divine inspiration of the last and best prophet of God! I am sure many generations of women have wept tears of joy and gratitude for this, among all the other clear proofs of "God's love" and "care" for women …



Modern examples of religious violence against women
Religiously sanctioned discrimination against women, and violence against women are still alive and thriving! Here are few examples.

The Bible tells us that women are forbidden to wear men's clothing (Bible, Deuteronomy 22:5). We read in the South African newspapers in the year 2007 CE, that women who dare to wear pants in some parts of Durban are stripped to their underwear or naked, beaten, and their houses burnt. All this for just daring to wear pants (read the newspaper report of this incident).

During 2007 CE in Pakistan a fanatical fundamentalist gunman killed a female politician for violating the Islamic dress code (read the newspaper report of this incident).

During 2002 CE a fire broke out in a large girl's school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Religious police prevented girls who were improperly dressed, (according to the Islamic dress code), from leaving the burning school. The result was that 14 girls burned to death because they were improperly dressed according to the religious police, who actively prevented the fire brigade and police from helping these unfortunate girls. Shame! Unspeakable! Such monsters are no more than unspeakable instruments of a truly evil religion (read the true report of this "incident").

A list of examples of how religion profoundly influences our lives, and encourages discrimination against women is unending...



The Unholy Legacy of Abraham frees your mind
The situation of women in many fundamentalist communities, be they Jewish, Christian, or Islamic, has not changed from what is evident in these passages. Read more about similar topics in the The Unholy Legacy of Abraham. This is one of the few books in which you can learn all about those nasty places in the holy books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, used by all vile fanatical slaves of these religions to justify violence against women, mistreatment of women, discrimination against women, and in general to justify regarding women as inferior to men. After reading this book you will no longer view these religions in quite the same way again, because you will have transcended the systems of thought forming the basis of these books. You will have achieved transcendence, you will be free of the mire of these religions, be free of enslavement to the cesspit of guilt in which fanatics try to force you to wallow, and you will learn the true nature of existence after death. By reading The Unholy Legacy of Abraham you will learn to rise above the mire of murky and misunderstood religious thought systems, and will be uplifted to a person whose thoughts transcend those of the world in which you live.

http://www.unholylegacy.woerlee.org/discrimination-of-women.php

An interesting slideshow

Hello guys

While researching material for class I came across this slideshow on Feminist Film Theory which I found very intersting. While this is not something that we will cover in class, I thought it was interesting enough, and related to the themes we are covering within our class, so I am going to post it here and you can also look through it if you are interested.

Feminist Film Theory

View more presentations from nepaliain.

Feminist, Counter-feminist and Counter counter Feminist Argument

The slides from class are now available in the Powerpoint Slides section on the left hand side!

Some thoughts from "Voices from Africa" supporting what we have been talking about in class

Reducing African Women’s Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

by Salimata Niang



Every country in Africa is faced with HIV/AIDS, and the situation is all the more cause for concern because the main transmission route is heterosexual. The measures adopted to control the epidemic have not prevented its rapid spread.

The extreme vulnerability of women, particularly African women, to sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS is well-known. In Senegal, as in other African countries, the ratio of the number of women infected to the number of men has changed rapidly: in 1986, one woman was infected for every six men (a ratio of six to one); in 1990, one woman was infected for every three men (three to one); in 1997, one woman was infected for every two men (two to one); and in 1999, between 12 and 13 women were infected for every ten men.

Also, the number of HIV-infected women is often underestimated. Although the virus reduces women’s fecundity by approximately 20%, pregnant women have always been used as a reference to measure the prevalence rate. So while the rate may be accurate for pregnant women, it does not reflect the situation of women in general.

For biological, socio-cultural and economic reasons, African women are most vulnerable to the disease. Biological vulnerability is common to all women; they carry a double handicap because they are the receptive sexual partner and have a large area of mucous membrane that is exposed during sexual relations. These factors put them at a considerable disadvantage, since the sperm of infected males has a far higher concentration of HIV than vaginal fluid. In addition, STIs such as trichomonosis and gonorrhoea may develop unnoticed or be poorly treated (or simply ignored). However, it has been demonstrated that the presence of STIs in women is responsible for a four-fold increase in the risk of HIV infection. Women’s biological vulnerability is exacerbated in adolescent girls, whose immature vaginal mucous membrane is damaged by sexual rites, and practices and violence such as rape, infibulation or forced marriage at a young age.

In the same connection African women frequently suffer from haemorrhagic complications during childbirth and require blood transfusions. In a situation of poverty where budgetary restrictions severely affect health and other social services, it is impossible to guarantee the screening of blood transfusions.

However, the decisive factor in the vulnerability of women is their social, cultural and economic condition. Rates of heterosexual HIV transmission in Africa are increased dramatically by the practice, lawful or otherwise, of taking several sexual partners. Some African women play an active role in this through official, clandestine or disguised prostitution, according to several researchers.

Associations aimed at mobilizing women in the response to AIDS have been set up across the continent. One example is the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA), established in 1988 in Senegal by a group of African women concerned about the specific problems they faced as a result of the epidemic. SWAA is a pan-African organization with 30 national branches and provides a rallying point where women can be heard and address their own concerns about the disease. Besides education and care for women and children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, the society focuses on access to antiretroviral drugs, especially as a means of preventing mother-to-child transmission. It also attempts to persuade African decision makers to become more involved and improve women’s access to education, condoms, antimicrobial drugs, and care and support.

It is well-known that women are the victims of gender inequality including lowered access to education and paid work, as well as to social and health facilities. African men’s relative access to social and economic resources keeps them in a dominant social position and gives them the opportunity to impose their views and determine women’s behaviour, particularly sexual.

Analysis of the African social and cultural context shows that women as a rule are victims. According to some researchers, women at risk of HIV/AIDS in Africa share one thing: their lack of “empowerment.” Researchers describe married women as passive victims because they risk contracting STIs or HIV from their husbands. Epidemiological studies in Senegal and Rwanda undertaken in 1991 show that women became infected after sexual contact with their immigrant husbands. When questioned, husbands admitted to several sexual partners while wives stated they had been monogamous. Women living alone or away from their husbands are at greatest risk: often, men treat them as casual sexual partners while they themselves frequently change sexual partners.

The same social, cultural and economic environment is responsible for adolescent girls and young women marrying at an early age or having sexual relations with older men, who are more likely to carry the virus. An epidemiological study has confirmed that older men are the primary cause of infection among adolescent girls and young women.

To sum up, men exercise authentic power over women who are usually in no position to exert control over their sexuality or fecundity. They may be helpless to protect their health, whether by persuading men to use a condom or by insisting they be faithful.


The Consequences of Infection for Women

One of the main consequences facing infected women of childbearing age is the transmission of HIV to their children, which occurs in 20% to 35% of cases. In addition, infection of African women at an early age and inadequate treatment are often responsible for premature deaths and an increase in the orphan population. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), some 13.2 million children worldwide—90% of whom live in Africa—have lost their mother and sometimes their father because of AIDS.

HIV/AIDS also undermines women’s traditional role as caregivers. Women are frequently responsible for young children or for their partner, who may also be infected. Even when they reach old age, women continue to care for children and ill relatives. With AIDS in Africa primarily affecting the 15-49 age group, grandmothers often find themselves caring for their grandchildren once their own children have died.

At the same time, the benefits of science have been slow in coming to Africa. For example, on the continent 90% people living with HIV or AIDS are not even aware they are infected. As a result, they take no precautions to prevent spreading HIV. Moreover, many countries lack a systematic referral system to provide HIV carriers with psychological and emotional support, and equally few have access to antiretroviral drugs. With lack of drugs and proper care, morbidity and mortality remain high among African patients. In contrast, in developed countries mortality has fallen by two-thirds due to new drugs, and care and support mechanisms.

In addition to the male condom, one form of protection that is available though not widespread is the female condom. It is a first step toward emancipating women and enabling them to protect themselves against both unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It is also suitable for HIV-negative women who are pregnant or breastfeeding but want protection against HIV infection and eventual mother-to-child transmission of the virus. Not only does the female condom strengthen protection against infection, it empowers women. As one user has said, “I showed the female condom to my husband and talked to him at length to persuade him to accept it…in any case, I would have used it without his knowledge.”

Voices from Africa no. 10

PROJECT DEADLINE EXTENSION

Hello Everyone

Please be advised that I am allowing an extension for submission of the project. You have until Friday the 16th of April 2010 to submit.

regards
Mrs Austin

HELLO GUYS AND WOW WOW WOW!

I have been reading your comments and emails and listening to all the great ideas that you have to come to consult with me about. I AM SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!! You are such a wonderful class to teach, and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to work with you. The ideas that you have come up with for the project are simply the best ones that I have seen in my entire 10 years of teaching.

WELL DONE.

Thank you also for being so diligent, and so willing to learn. Always remember that you are the only person who can change things for yourself, only you have the power to become the best that you can possibly be. I promise you that if you keep going the way that you have been, if you keep trying, if you are not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them, you will be great!

Once again - I would like to say I am so impressed with how hard you have worked. Keep up this fantastic spirit of yours.

MOVIEMAKER - how to use!

How To Use Movie Maker

View more presentations from mjhasley.

Windows Movie Maker Tutorial 1: How to Make a Picture Slideshow with Music - The best bloopers are here

Windows Movie Maker Effects the Basics - The best video clips are right here

How to Use Windows Movie Maker - More Advanced - Click here for funny video clips

Hey guys - some presentation help

Perhaps you want to make a PowerPoint show to along with your project but you dont really know how to do this.  In this post, I am putting in a few links to places where you can go to learn about how to use PowerPoint - the first link is how to use Powerpoint version 97 to 2003.  The second link is how to use PowerPoint 2007.  If you dont know what version of PowerPoint you have - these pictures might help -  PowerPoint 97 - 2003 looks like this picture on the right.  The menu and tool bars are quite small and narrow and there is still a text menu

On the other hand - PowerPoint 2007 looks like this picture on the left.  Notice that there are a lot more "visual" guides.

There are some great video tutorials on the net - In them you can learn how to do just about anything on PowerPoint. I would like to encourage you guys to visit, learn and then to practise your PowerPoint skills - it is a vital skill for anyone, but more especially for those doing Public relations or Communication studies.   

But anyway, back to the links:  The first link is for those people who have never used or made a presentation onf PowerPoint before.  Click on the links below next to the PowerPoint opening picture.  There are video and the transcripts from the videos.

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO POWERPOINT 2003

How to add pictures and video in PowerPoint 2003

How to add sound or audio to PowerPoint Slide

The second set of links is for PowerPoint 2007 - click on the link to go to what you want to learn.  These are not video tutorials, but they do have screenshots

•  GETTING STARTED with PowerPoint 2007
• How to add pictures, and other graphic content
• How to change font, colours, and wordart
• Adding textboxes, video and audio
• SLIDE EFFECTS Inserting animation and slide transitions

 I hope that this information helps a few people who want to be a little more creative.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment - how to make simple movies on Windows MovieMaker!!!

Mrs Austin

New Jonestown video links

Try these direct links for the Jonestown videos:



(click on the link [blue underlined text] below to go directly to the video on google video where it is stored. It will take a few seconds to buffer and then click the play button if the video doesnt play automatically)

VIDEO: Jonestown - The Final Report

click on the link below for the longer documentary

VIDEO: Full PBS Documentary

THE AHIV PROJECT

In this post you can find out all about the AHIV group project.



As part of your continuous assessment for this course - you are required to submit a group project. This project is like a test. It will count as part of your mark/grade for this course. It is mandatory - that means you MUST do it.

What is a group project?
It is a piece of research, the research is shared and put together into a presentation by all members of the group. The group is made up of members of your class. Organise yourself into groups of at least 5-10 members - you may not have more than 10 members in your group. Each group must provide the names of the members and their student numbers on the list provided - to me (Mrs Austin), no later than Tuesday the 23rd of March 2010. Please sign up your group on the list pasted on the wall, next to my office (710, 5th Floor, Arts).



All members in the group MUST contribute to the project. At the back of the project, all members must outline or indicate what they have contributed, what research they provided and what they did in the overall composition or presentation of the project.



The project will be assessed in the following manner -


• The group will submit their project -


• There will be a panel of "judges" who view the project.


• The group will be called in for an interview based on their project.


• Each member in the group will be interviewed on the group project.


• The mark for the project will be awarded according to:


o the actual project submitted.


o how all the group members perform in the individual interview.


• Groups are encouraged to ensure that all their members are adequately knowledgeable in what their project is about as their collective mark is dependent on how well other members in the group perform.


THE AHIV PROJECT QUESTION


Karl Marx said: “Religion is the opiate of the masses”. He sees religion or some cultural beliefs as an ideology that controls the minds of people, in such a way that it has a negative impact on their lives and yet that they are satisfied with their disempowerment and may even think that it is a good thing or the right way to be.


In your project, amongst one of the following:


• religion,


• a traditional belief or cultural practice,


• event in history,


find your own example to demonstrate that one of the above may work like an ideology.


(For example – I used the Jonestown tragedy, Hindu beliefs, Islamic beliefs etc- as an example, now you come up with your own examples – )

Format of the project


While you are free to be creative and design a thought provoking, exciting project, the project itself must contain a written analysis of the example you have chosen.
 However, in addition, you may supplement your analysis with extra material – pictures, music, or videos, you can turn it into a chart, you may make a PowerPoint show, write, enact and film a screenplay. If you do use extra material, it must prove your case, illustrate your point or be used a case study (e.g. Jonestown Tragedy).



You must also “acknowledge” your sources – that means you have to say where your information, images or media comes from. Be warned not to “lift” or merely copy and paste text from websites, books or movies – you have to be original. You will not get a mark for something someone else has written. This will be checked using the anti-plagiarism (anti-copying) software “Turnitin”.

The JONESTOWN TRAGEDY

Hi Guys

I set up this blog so that I can post relevant information for the course. The philosophy department at Unizul has a website where relevant course material is published as well. You can also sign up to be a member there. Go to http://www.philosophyuz.ning.com/



This site doesnt require you to be a member. You can just type in the address and read all the blogposts.



In class we have been speaking about Ideologies. I have decided to use the Jonestown Tragedy as an example to show how people who really believe in something, even though it might seem like a good thing, a good idea, something great to live by and work toward - how that thing can actually be a bad thing in the end. Remember what we said:



An ideology is something, a belief or set of beliefs that disempowers the believer, while making the believer satisfied with his or her disempowerment.



In Jonestown - 913 people believed in something so much that they convinced themselves that suicide was the best and only option for them! Seems crazy doesnt it? But remember what Marx said: "Religion is the opiate of the masses"? Watch this video and think about how it relates to what we have been talking about.

If you would like to know more about the Jonestown Tragedy - you can also find more information here (cick on the link below):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

http://www.guyana.org/features/jonestown.html

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~reli291/Jonestown/Jonestown.html

Here is another video that you may want to watch - it is documentary made for the 30th Anniversary of the Jonestown tragedy.

See you in class

Mrs Austin